'Drawn from the latest surveys'
A New Map of the Land of Matrimony.
[London: Published by J. Johnson, 1772].
Price:
$4,750.00
First (and only separate) issue. Hand-colored map. 10-5/8" x 13-1/4". Backed with tissue and repaired on verso. Light soiling, old folds, some small holes along them with minor loss, trimmed close with loss of imprint but still a good copy with vivid colors. McCarthy, Anna Letitia Barbauld: Voice of the Enlightenment p. 125.
Item #378696
English author Anna Letitia (or Laetitia) Barbauld was a poet, essayist, literary critic and children's author, remembered as "a leading writer of early Romanticism" (ODNB). Published anonymously by Joseph Johnson and subsequently attributed to Barbauld, the New Map "is a 'romance cartography' after the fashion of seventeenth-century French romance fictions… In the language of mapmaking Anna Letitia represents courtship as a voyage through dangerous waters (the 'Ocean of Love') to a port that may be easily missed, 'Bride's Bay' in the Land of Matrimony. The map abounds in witticisms—for instance, that the 'Dead Lake of [Marital] Indifference' lies on the meridian of London, a poke at jaded urban sophistication… There are allegories in it also: for instance, the River of Love ('L'Amour R.') rises at the meeting of two tributary rivers, 'Esteem' and 'Inclination.' Since inclination (liking) was generally understood to be extra-rational and inexplicable, Anna Letitia notes that 'the rise of this river [is] unknown.' On the large scale, the map allegorizes the social understanding of marriage as a happy medium between sexless, prudish solitude ('Friesland') and dangerous promiscuity (the 'Enchanted Islands,' whose capital is 'St. Magdalena'—as in 'magdalen,' or 'prostitute'). […] the map abounds also in erotic suggestions" (McCarthy).
The map was reissued later in a smaller format to accompany the 1775 publication of "To Mr. Barbauld, with a Map of the Land of Matrimony." Copies of the larger, separate issue are scarce, especially with such extensive hand-coloring.
Item #378696
English author Anna Letitia (or Laetitia) Barbauld was a poet, essayist, literary critic and children's author, remembered as "a leading writer of early Romanticism" (ODNB). Published anonymously by Joseph Johnson and subsequently attributed to Barbauld, the New Map "is a 'romance cartography' after the fashion of seventeenth-century French romance fictions… In the language of mapmaking Anna Letitia represents courtship as a voyage through dangerous waters (the 'Ocean of Love') to a port that may be easily missed, 'Bride's Bay' in the Land of Matrimony. The map abounds in witticisms—for instance, that the 'Dead Lake of [Marital] Indifference' lies on the meridian of London, a poke at jaded urban sophistication… There are allegories in it also: for instance, the River of Love ('L'Amour R.') rises at the meeting of two tributary rivers, 'Esteem' and 'Inclination.' Since inclination (liking) was generally understood to be extra-rational and inexplicable, Anna Letitia notes that 'the rise of this river [is] unknown.' On the large scale, the map allegorizes the social understanding of marriage as a happy medium between sexless, prudish solitude ('Friesland') and dangerous promiscuity (the 'Enchanted Islands,' whose capital is 'St. Magdalena'—as in 'magdalen,' or 'prostitute'). […] the map abounds also in erotic suggestions" (McCarthy).
The map was reissued later in a smaller format to accompany the 1775 publication of "To Mr. Barbauld, with a Map of the Land of Matrimony." Copies of the larger, separate issue are scarce, especially with such extensive hand-coloring.
